


Pop the Latches, Open the Hatches (Out Comes Jack In the Box)

by MugenYumeDansu



Category: Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, F/M, Freedom, Psychological Torture, Trigger Warning: Live Burial, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-07-29 21:46:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16272992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MugenYumeDansu/pseuds/MugenYumeDansu
Summary: David is cruel, in his kindness sometimes. Max is just plain evil. And sometimes vampires don't turn out quite right.David is tired of playing Max's stupid games. So he does the only thing he can.He asks for help.





	1. Seven Years

_It's been seven years now, living in this box._

_Closed in on all sides, no light just dark._

 

David sat perched on the end of the pier, cigarette dangling from his limp fingers when Michael found him.

"Where is she? David, where's Star?" The dark haired boy snapped.

"She's put away. And if you want to see her again, I suggest you come with me." David tells his fledgling, a cruel smirk twisting his lips. It didn't quite reach his eyes, but Michael couldn't see it. The boys were all there, hovering around behind their leader.

They all knew what David had planned. They also knew what had transpired earlier that same night as they woke. The screams that rent the air around them all. Star had been huddled behind her gauzy curtains, terrified. She hadn't yet known about this secret. The secret David kept. One that hurt him more than he admitted.

Sometimes vampires didn't turn out quite right. It's what he worried about with Star. That her turn would turn her into the same as the creature shrieking from the recesses of the underground resort's darkest reaches.

It made the three older vampires wary.

David rose and the others fell in line, following. David led them to the cave entrance. The original plan was to take Michael to the beach. Dwayne and Paul exchanged looks while Marko sat astride his bike on the cliffside biting the thumb of his glove with a blank stare.

David descended the stairs, and the others dismounted and trailed after, Marko and Paul staying close together. Dwayne was silent and stoic, as always. But still, Michael knew something was wrong. The group carried a heaviness that seeped into the air. Everything felt as if it was lost in a fog of wrongness. More than the fact that he was in the midst of vampires.

When they entered the cave, no one else was around. Of Star and Laddie there was no sign. David made his way to the alcove where the boys sometimes slept. It had once been an elevator shaft. Now it was a derelict tunnel into the earth itself. David stopped at the lip of the hole. The others stood far back.

"Michael, what I'm about to show you is going to change everything. Brace yourself." The blonde vampire looked back at the halfling. Then he jumped into the hole. Dwayne followed silently. As did Paul. Marko touched Michael's arm on the way past, giving him a look that spoke volumes. There was sadness there. And pain.

Michael's head spun. Something was very wrong here. All of the Lost Boys were known for being boisterous and carefree. Wild, without any reason for such heavy emotions in their unlives. The only one who carried such sadness was Star.

Brushing aside his pondering, Michael stepped into the darkness, levitating his way down until his feet touched the stone floor far below. David stood, a torch made of driftwood and rags burning in his hand.

Normally this wasn't needed, due to vampire sight, but they required at least a small amount of light to see by. Down here it was pitch dark, no light at all. The others stepped aside to allow Michael to follow directly after David, who turned down the tunnel.

They made it almost twenty feet into the tunnel before an agonized moan rent the air. Another followed directly. Another thirty feet and they exited the tunnel into a massive room. It had once been a ballroom from the looks of it. The cracked and broken remains of a black and white marble floor peeked through the dirt and several opulent columns carved with the image of Greek figured lay in pieces, covered in dust. The air down here smelled old, stale. And there was something else. Across the once grand ballroom floor lay a massive stone coffin that looked as if it belonged in a mausoleum. The top was busted in places, but it still sported an intricate carving of a beautiful woman laying at rest with a fist full of roses. Iron chains wrapped the entire casket.

There was a corner broken entirely, marring part of the woman's face, and from that space was where the pains moaning emanated. Michael felt his stomach turn. He prayed that it wasn't Star inside that thing.

David handed the torch off to Dwayne and slowly approached the casket. He leaned over to the hole and whispered something to the being inside.

"David. David!" A woman's voice called out. An emaciated hand poked out of the space and David took it.

"I'm here. It's me, yes." The blonde took the hand and cradled it to his chest. Then he turned to Michael.

"I have someone for you to meet, love. A new brother." He waved Michael over. A sort of relief washed through him upon hearing David's words to the woman inside. At least it wasn't Star.

Michael stepped forward on shaky legs. When he got close enough he saw that a young girl's face was just visible from inside. She was gaunt. Much too much to be mortal. The girl had ash colored hair that lay limp around her head, thin and brittle from prolonged time inside the stone coffin, and likely starvation. Her eyes were a pale green, dull and listless from her captivity.

"Michael this is Lira. Lira, this is our new brother, Michael." Michael looked on in horror at the girl. She smiled up at him, a thin smile that made his heart clench.

"Why are you showing me this David?" Michael felt panic beginning to rise in his throat. He glanced around, searching the room for any other caskets. He didn't see any, but it didn't matter. He had to be sure that Star wasn't trapped down here after all.

"Because, this is what's going to happen to Star, if he has his way." David closed his eyes, sadness prominent in his features. He clutched at Lira's hand as of it were a lifeline

"He? Who is He? What's going on David? Tell me right now!" Michael shouted, the panic in his chest starting to overcome him.

"Max." It wasn't David's voice, but the woman. "Max is the one who did this. And Star will suffer the same fate as me. Unless you can destroy him, Michael." Her voice was cracked and dry, but it held a musical quality that had been beautiful, once. Michael froze for a moment.

"Max? You mean the weird guy from the video store Mom dating?" Panic subsided for a moment, confusion taking its place.

"Yes. He's our sire. He created all of us." Marko spoke. He was staring forlornly at the hand David held as if it were precious.

"So Sam and his freaky friends are right?" Michael turned and a dressed all of them. Dwayne chuckled.

"Yeah, they are. He's good at hiding in plain sight." The darker man said.

"Can't be over four hundred years old and not be good at hiding." Paul chimed in. The blonde shifted from foot to foot.

"So, why my mom? Why me?" Michael asked, pieces starting to click into place.

"Because he wants Lucy. He thinks we need a mother, and he picked her. You and Sam are just a way to get at her." David explained.

"Why are you telling me this?" Michael asked, the panic starting to resurge.

"Because I asked him to. Because I don't want Star to suffer my fate, Michael. Because we are all under Max's thrall, but you aren't yet. Because you can fight him, and destroy him. And then you, and Star, and Laddie will be free, and human again, and David will take over this coven. And because Max is unhinged, and we _need_ you! We need you to kill him! Kill him! KILL HIM!" Lira's voice rose until she was yelling. And then she started to scream, long, tortured screams that devolved into horrible, gutteral howling.

Michael fell back, scrambling away from the now frantic, trapped vampire. She was scrambling at the stone cover, clawing at it desperately, trying to get out. Dwayne leaned down and hoisted Michael to his feet, dragging him backwards toward the tunnel.

"Time to go." He stated quietly. Michael was stunned. David stayed behind, whispering to the trapped woman urgently, trying to calm her. The hand that had been holding hers was slashed to ribbons, blood everywhere as she tore at David. Marko and Paul fell in behind Michael, blocking his view as they ushered him toward the elevator shaft.

Once they were in the lobby once more Dwayne let Michaels go and sank onto the worn couch.

"So that was... Wow." Michael stated, still stunned. Dwayne nodded, pulling a joint from his jacket and lighting it. He took several tokes before offering it to Michael. The paler man took it and followed the other's example before passing it on to Paul. They all sat there, silently, the echoing screams from below finally beginning to taper off. Half an hour after Lira fell completely silent David made his reappearance.

The blonde leader sank into his wheelchair and dropped his head into his hands. Michael felt for him in that moment. It was clear that David cared for the woman trapped underneath them. After a beat Michael got up and went to sit closer. He sat, silent, waiting.

"I didn't choose you because of Star. Not that I wouldn't have chosen you, I probably would have. But I wouldn't have gone about it like this." David admitted, unmoving. The darker of the two let that sink in before he spoke.

"So Max wanted you to turn me to get to Mom. To be a mother to you. Is that what you want?" Michael asked. David sighed and shook his head.

"Do you really think we need one? Look at us Michael. We're doing fine on our own. This isn't some carefree modern family. All I need is my brothers, and Lira. All we want is to be free." David glared at Michael. Michael felt something in him loosen somewhat.

"Alright. So what about Star. It's clear you don't want her for a..." He trailed off, unsure exactly what he was trying to ask.

"Mate. And no, I don't. I don't dislike her, but I wouldn't have chosen her for this life. She's weak. Weak humans don't make good vampires. Almost all of them end up dying during the turn, and the ones that don't die don't make it through with their sanity. Crazy vampires are uncontrollable, and thus a liability. If Star were to survive the turn she would likely be so feral I'd have to kill her, Michael. I don't want to kill her. I'm trying to save her." David told the half vampire.

"So what, you're willing to let us go? Even knowing what you are?" Michael asked.

"Truthfully, I shouldn't. But I like you Michael. Star and Laddie don't deserve this life. They were Max's attempts to control us. We got too out of hand for him, and he tried to tame us. Found our weaknesses and exploited them. Star is mine. Reminds me too much of mortality. Laddie, he was aimed at Dwayne." The vampire leader was staring at the ground. And Michael got it suddenly.

"They represent someone you loved, in life. Someone you would never hurt. Like Sam and Mom are to me." Michael found himself starting to see more of what was going on. More of who David was. Not a heartless monster. Just a broken man cursed with immortality, stuck under the control of a madman.

"If I help you, you let them go. Star, Laddie, my family. All of them. Let them go." Michael told the spiked blonde.

"Just them?" David looked up, surprised. Michael looked down at his lap.

"I'm still trying to figure out if this is what I want. Don't take it the wrong way. I don't want to be a vampire. But..."

"But at the same time you like it? The rush, the power. The freedom." David supplied. Michael's gaze snapped up to David's. David had stated exactly how he felt. The conflict that was tearing at him inside. He nodded once, unable to speak for the lump in his throat.

"We all felt that way, in the beginning." It was Marko that spoke. Michael turned to regard the shorter man. He was saying off I to the darkness, the thumb he was fond of biting on resting absently on his chin. "That's how he gets us, you know. Dangles immortality, freedom, power. And then when we take the bait he springs the trap." The blonde vampire trailed off.

"If you kill Max, you'll go back to being human. How about you decide then? Take your time and decide what you really want, and if you want this, then you come find me?" David offered the compromise. Michael was wary. He knew that David wasn't known for his patience. But if he was sincere, then Michael could come to terms with everything in his own time, and make his decision on his own.

"Alright. Its a deal." He offered his hand to David. David took it and they sealed the deal. After that they fell to planning. The entire time David had a strange air about him, gentle half smile gracing his lips and a light in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

It puzzled Michael the entire way home from the cave. When it finally clicked Michael was dumbfounded. Hope. It was hope that shone through David's eyes.

Hopefully they could pull this off. Because if David was being sincere, then Max's death would be Star and Laddie, and even Lira's path to freedom.

That thought was the one that was running through Michael's head as he dropped to the bed, the early light of dawn just beginning to show on the horizon. Sleep beckoned, and Michael was helpless to resist the call.

 

* * *

 

David waited for Michael to go, watching carefully and sending Paul to be certain the half vampire made it home safely.

As soon as it was clear David made his way back into the darkness and down. He followed the thrum of the mind so intimately connected with his own. He followed the him of her mind through the darkness. He stopped beside her imprisoning chamber. His hand rested on the cold stone of the casket, just beside the opening he had made in desperation to see her again. To give her some small freedom, the ability to touch the air. Her hand touched his, tentatively. 

She was quiet now, no longer screaming. Her mind was tired. She had exhausted herself into the semi catatonic state she was in now. She did this occasionally, when she was awake. Which was rarely anymore. She had been silent for most of the year this time. When David had been down here last she had barely reacted to him, only stirring when he reached inside the stone and touched her face. He did the same now, cupping the cheek he could reach.

She leaned into the touch, as she had before. David felt his eyes prick with tears he barely restrained. Instead he leaned over and laid his head beside the hole, breathing in what remained of her natural scent. The faint fragrance of wild flowers and water, overlaid by dust, earth, decay and fear.

It both comforted and pained him.

"I will get you out of here, I promise." He told her for the millionth time. Usually this received no response. This time, however, she spoke.

"David, I'm losing. I keep fighting, bit the darkness is winning. It's harder and harder to come back each time. My sanity is breaking." She was weak, barely a hoarse whisper.

"I know. But this time we're close. I will end this and free you. And when I do you'll fly again. Do you remember how you used to love flying?" He brushed his fingers across her skin as he spoke.

"It's a hazy memory. I remember that I used to fly, that I loved it. But not what it felt like. David, I want that back. I want to learn what it feels like to fly again." She told him. Her voice was growing weaker. She was fading back into oblivion.

"You will, Lira. I promise you will."

David felt the sun's pull. He reached out his mind to his brother's, finding them all safe and back where they belonged. He let the rising of the sun lull him into slumber, his fingers still pressed against her cheek.

 

 

 


	2. A Thousand Shades Of Red

_I was an uncut marionette, hanging by steel cable threads._

_I was a shadow dancer, a thousand shades of red._

 

Michael waited for David and the others to arrive, pacing slowly back and forth. 

The plan was slowly falling into place. Sam and his idiot friends had been an unexpected complication. The Frogs wanted to kill them all, rather than allow David and his boys to live, but after Michael had made it clear, in no uncertain terms that this was the plan, they were going to follow it perfectly, or there would be consequences, they had backed off.

Maybe the threat of a vampires fangs a scant few inches from their throats and a wall at their backs had made enough of an impression to make them realize just how precarious a situation they were in, and it was Michael calling the shots here.

So here they waited. Star and Laddie were already upstairs, and the trap was set. They just had to make sure Max took the bait.

The bait was currently out on a date with the head vampire, completely oblivious to the danger she was in. And after the compulsion that Michael had put on her, with David coaching him through it, there was little doubt in his mind that Max would definitely bite. So to speak.

The whoosh of air outside and Nanook's sudden frenzy of barking from the bathroom upstairs that he had been locked in alerted Michael of David's arrival.

It was time to put the plan into action.

Michael met the brothers at the door.

"I invite you into my home, David, Dwayne, Paul and Marko." He stepped aside and allowed them entrance.

Sam, ever the snarky little asshole put his two cents in from the couch.

"I don't know why you have to invite them. They're shitsuckers, Michael. What if they turn on us? You ever thought of that?" The blonde grouched. It didn't have nearly as much heat to it as usual though.

"Sam, we've been over this. Now get your ass up and help us set the rest of the house up before Mom gets home with Max." The older brother ordered. Sam did as he was told, though he sulked the entire time.

Between the three humans, three halflings, and four full vampires, they finished preparing quickly and took their positions to wait.

It wasn't long before the sound of Lucy's beat up Toyota coming down the driveway. 

Michael waited in the rafters, not far from David until Lucy made her way to the door and inside. She turned back to invite Max, but right then Sam came bounding down the stairs screaming 

"Mom! Mom! They're here! You gotta hurry!" He grabbed his mother's arm and dragged the shocked, sputtering woman into the house and slammed the kitchen door behind them. Michael could hear his mother berating her youngest son, and Sam arguing desperately back.

As long as he kept her distracted then everything was going according to plan. Max stepped inside, looking around. He looked right to where David and Michael were hiding and clicked his tongue.

"Now boys, come on out. I know you're here. Let's talk this through like civilized monsters."  He this two steps and then jerked as an arrow appeared in his stomach. Smoke began pouring from the wound and Max howled. Another arrow followed the second. Alan peeked over the banister where he had been hiding with the bow.

"Yes." He said before scrambling to his feet and taking off down the hall, Ed on his heels.

"You little rats!" Max yelled, moving to follow the Frog, but just as he got to the stairs a bucket of holy water that had been attached to a trip wire tipped and soaked him. The vampire roared and flailed, steam billowing off him.

David and the boys dropped from their places around the room, surrounding Max.

"What is this?" Max demanded.

"This is patricide." David told his sire solemnly. The four of them lashed out, tearing and ripping at Max. When they all backed away he was missing both arms, and had deep gouges all over his body that bled freely, to go with the melted skin that sagged from his frame.

Michael descended from his place and drove the stake in his hand straight into Max's chest. The stunned older vampire choked for a moment, and then he began to smoke. Michael pushed him backward, straight into the waiting fire, where he combusted quickly.

When there were only ashes left Michael felt the shift happening. The hunger faded away, and the unnatural strength with it. His second from receded, and just like that he was human again. He heard the cries of relief from upstairs where Star and Laddie were, and he knew it was over. At least for them. He turned to David, who stood watching his master burn away to ashes, eyes far away.

"It's over, David. He's gone." He reached out and laid a hand on the vampire leader's shoulder. A small smile broke over David's face. Beside them Paul let out a whoop of joy, followed by Marko and then Dwayne.

The dark one clapped his brother's other shoulder, grinning.

"We're free, brother."

The touching moment was broken when Lucy finally managed to escape Sam and marched into the room.

"What in the hell no going on here?" She shrieked, voiced edged with panic. Michael turned to her.

"Don't worry, Ma. Its all OK now." He grabbed his mother and pulled her into a hug.

 

* * *

 

 

Later that night, after everything had been explained, and Michael and the boys had cleaned up the majority of the mess before Grandpa came home, Michael bid David and his boys farewell.

David flew faster than he had in far too long. He scarcely touched the ground before he bolted to the elevator shaft and down. The others followed close behind.

 As soon as they made it I to the cavern below one of the others lit up the torch, illuminating the grand ballroom, and it's prisoner.

David used the newfound strength he'd gained when Max had bit it to tear the thick chains loose from Lira's casket. He tire the stone lid from it, and looked down at the barely conscious woman that lay inside. Her long hair had grown in the seven years since her imprisonment, curling around her painfully emaciated frame. She was barely a skeleton now.  Her once moonlight skin was dull and covered in dust, grime, and the corpses of dead insects.

Her head turned to him.

"David...?" She asked weakly.

"He's dead, baby. He's gone, and you're free. Just like I promised." David framed her face in both hands and kissed her, as he had longed to do for so long now. She kissed him back feebly.

He carefully aid his arms under her and lifted her up, out if he place that had stolen her sanity. He took her up out of the darkness, into the lobby of the resort. He laid her on the bed that had once been hers, before everything had happened and Star had come along.

She smiled at him before drifting into sleep again.

It would take a very long time for her to recover from the time spent trapped underground, but David would be there, as would their brother's. And she would recover, eventually. At least, physically. Her mind might never be the same again. But David didn't care. She was free, and Max was dead. That was all that mattered.

He lay beside her carefully, holding her as if she were the most precious thing on the face of the planet. To him, she was.

 

 

 


	3. Black

_Back in black, almost sleeping._

_Pop the latches, open the hatches, out comes jack in the box._

 

October 29th, 1997

David sat watching the sea beat against the cliffside, or more accurately, he watched the figure of a woman darting back and forth in the spray, playing as she loved to do.

Another figure joined her, a larger one with dark hair that curled around his shoulders.

Lira and Michael had bonded quickly when Michael had finally returned to then five years ago. Lira had recovered well from her confinement. She still had episodes of hysteria occasionally, usually only when she felt trapped. She was extremely claustrophobic, but David had anticipated that. 

She had also decided that she hated her hair long, and cut it. It was only now starting to get down to her collarbone, the ash blonde curls barely touching her skin.

David took a drag from his cigarette and let the smoke escape slowly. It curled through the air, up and away. It had been ten years since Max had died. Things had definitely changed. The cave they lived in was littered with all manner of odd things.

Now a net full of sea glass and different shells guarded the door. There were oil lamps everywhere, and they had dug through the stone I to a second, larger room that seemed to be some sort of dining room, for the large tables and chairs, and the table settings. An opening in the wall led to another cavern, this one entirely natural. There was a hole in the cave ceiling that let in the moonlight at night. In the daytime they slept in the massive dining room.

It wasn't much, but it was better now than it had been. Now the lobby was their defense, the tunnel leading to the dining room being high up on the wall in shadow where no one even noticed it.

They were safe now, for the first time in a long time. The Frog brother's had left, after several years of hunting the Lost Boys and failing. Finally moving on, to Luna Bay, down the coast.

David had heard there was another pack of vampires down that way. And ever since the boys had started feeding without killing, except when necessary, the other pack was drawing more attention.

All the better, David thought. Let the world forget the Lost Boys. It was better that way.

David stubbed out the butt of his cigarette and stood up. Lira and Michael were making their way toward him, likely trying to draw him into their games, like always.

He could feel Dwayne and Paul approaching from he direction of the boardwalk. And Marko was in the cave with his birds, like always. David felt his family all around him. And nothing could take the peace that filled him away. Not in this moment. Everything was right, and that was as it should be.

In the bright light of day they didn't even exist, but for whispers between those who remembered he and his brother's from a decade past.


End file.
